Items tagged with Linux

We wrote just the other day about Zorin Linux, a distro that targets Windows users, or at least those who appreciate ease-of-use and a great aesthetic. Today, Windows convert hopefuls have another solution: Fedora 25. Understanding that it's not exactly easy for a life-long Windows user to make the transition to a completely new operating system, the Fedora team has made the transition to Fedora 25 a bit easier by defaulting the download for macOS and Windows users to a tool that will automatically fetch the latest version and let them flash the image to a thumb drive (or DVD). With Fedora 25 copied...Read more...

It should be safe to call Windows 10 a "great" OS, but we can't ignore some maddening aspects of it including its data mining features and frustrating Windows Update mechanism. More than ever, the latest batch of Windows releases has clued the world into the fact that alternatives exist, and we're not just talking macOS. Free alternatives exist, such as the Ubuntu-based Zorin OS. Some Linux distributions make their goal of catering to those familiar with Windows clear, and Zorin OS is no exception. The GNOME-based desktop is designed to mimic Windows in some key areas, such as by having a taskbar...Read more...

Security researchers have found a rather alarming vulnerability in Linux that could ultimately allow an attacker to copy, modify, or destroy the contents of a hard drive, along with with configure the network to exfiltrate data. That in and of itself is cause for concern, but the real harrowing part about this is how easy it is to activate—an attacker need only boot up the system and hold down the enter key for 70 seconds. In less time than it takes to microwave a bag of popcorn, an attacker could compromise a Linux machine with potentially serious consequences. The vulnerability that makes it...Read more...

Up until Satya Nadella took the reigns at Microsoft, it wasn't a secret that Redmond company didn't take too kindly to Linux. The situation has sure changed over the past couple of years, though. Even the company's massive Azure platform supports Linux, and a couple of months ago, it ported its popular PowerShell admin tool to the Penguin-fueled platform. But now the company has officially fortified its interest in Linux by joining the Linux Foundation as a top-tier Platinum member. It joins the likes of Intel, Samsung, IBM, Cisco, Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Qualcomm, NEC, and Huawei....Read more...

In late October, we were all alerted to the existence of the Dirty COW exploit, which has been lurking in the Linux kernel ever since 2007. Dirty COW gets its name from the fact that the exploit takes advantage of the Linux copy-on-write (COW) function. At its core, Dirty COW is a privilege escalation exploit that has some pretty serious consequences for Linux-based operating systems, including Android. The exploit could allow an attacker to gain root access to just about any Android device (under nearly perfect conditions). “The problem comes down to the fact that there was a logic error...Read more...

Whether you use Linux at home or manage a Linux server, you'll want to waste no time in making sure your OS is completely up-to-date. An exploit called "Dirty COW" has now been revealed, and while it's not the most dangerous one ever released, the fact that it's been around for nine years is causing some serious alarm throughout the Linux community. If not for the fact that Linux developer Phil Oester was impacted by this exploit, we might still not even know about it. With his own servers, Oester has been capturing all incoming traffic so as to spot issues easier, this one included. While the...Read more...

Microsoft released a new preview build of Windows 10 Redstone 2, the second major update to Windows 10 that's currently a work in progress (the first was the Anniversary Update, which was codenamed Redstone 1 prior to its release). It's available to Windows Insiders who are subscribed to the program's Fast ring and it brings with it a handful of updates, including improvements to the Windows subsystem for Linux (WSL) and some nifty Windows Ink Workspace updates.Starting with WSL, there are two large updates to note. The first is official support for Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial), which is installed for...Read more...

A recent discovery has the Linux community buzzing, and it involves a bug in systemd, an init (initialization) system used in many modern Linux distributions to bootstrap the user space and manage all processes. Many regular Linux users might not even understand what systemd is, and that's because it just works, it simply flies under the radar as part of the OS. For some, systemd is a good way forward. It would be nice to think that most every modern distro has adopted it for good reason. For others, though, it's the target of extreme ire. Whether that's justified or not, there's no denying that...Read more...

Are Microsoft and Lenovo conspiring to keep Linux off Signature Edition PCs? Not so says both companies. The issue came to light after one user bought a Lenovo Yoga 900 Signature Edition convertible with the intention of installing Linux on it. However, his efforts were thwarted, as the machine refused to install Linux. Yesterday, Lenovo confirmed that Linux cannot be installed on the machine because there are no OS-specific drivers for the device’s proprietary RAID configuration. Given that this machine has been designed to work with Windows 10, it should come as no surprise that Lenovo probably...Read more...

If you're a Linux fan who's on the hunt for a new notebook, you have plenty of options. As weird as it might sound, even Microsoft's own "Signature" line of machines could prove tempting, as the requirements a notebook needs to obtain that status are very strict. However, as a reddit post highlights, Linux users need to exercise extreme caution when considering to take this route. reddit user BaronHK purchased a Yoga 900 ultrabook from Lenovo with full intention to install Linux on it. When the time came to make the move, it didn't work, and so he decided to leave some feedback about...Read more...

If you operate a Web server that runs on Linux, we're here to give you a bit of a prod in case you haven't updated it in a while. A piece of ransomware called FairWare is floating around, and as you'll soon see, its name is ironic as it's anything but "fair". Reports are coming in of users who have been struck with this awful type of malware, although it doesn't seem clear at this point exactly how the infection takes place. It's also not clear if this is some sort of automated attack -- one that simply scans the internet at large and infects where it can -- or if the attacks are focused. Either...Read more...

If you're a Linux fan, then you should know that this week is a very special one. On August 25, 1991 - 25 years ago - Linus Torvalds shot out a simple message to a Minix usergroup which stated that he was working on a Minix replacement. Within, he famously said that his creation wouldn't "be big and professional like GNU". Not even Linus Torvalds could have predicted what his OS - eventually called Linux - would become. While it might have taken a little while to get off the ground in a big way, Linux was a pet project that had no goals of world domination, but over time, that eventually happened...Read more...

Earlier this month, the Linux Mint developer team released the Xfce edition of Linux Mint 18 'Sarah', which followed the main release at the end of June. But now it's time for some Plasma action, with a beta release of the upcoming Linux Mint 18 KDE edition. It's worth noting that all three Linux Mint 18 editions are LTS releases (long-term support), with a promise to be supported until 2021. For that reason, these releases don't include bleeding-edge software, but instead software that can be assured to be stable right-out-of-the-box. Tying into that, the recently released KDE 5.7 isn't bundled...Read more...

It seems like we have had to report on some major new hack or threat every week as of late. Black-Hat Hackers are becoming more sophisticated, while their wares are becoming more diverse and complicated. One of the latest pieces of malware, the nasty Rex Linux Trojan, packs in DDoS attacks, ransomware, and a Bitcoin miner. Stu Gorton, CEO and Co-Founder of Forkbombus Labs, disclosed a new kind of ransomware that targeted Drupal websites this past May in an interview with Softpedia. It was not particularly effective and could easily be defeated. This particular ransomware has evolved in...Read more...